Answers to your ethics questions are free and just a phone call away. The OPC can quickly give you real life ethical advice on small everyday matters or big picture issues. Our goal is to help you serve your clients and the legal system in the most ethical and professional manner by answering questions before there’s a problem.

The OPC will not give ethical advice regarding the conduct of an attorney other than the attorney caller. Problems with the attorneys you are dealing with are better addressed by the court (if a court action is in progress) or through a written Bar complaint. Also, the OPC will not give legal advice.

If the facts surrounding the problem have already developed to the extent that you have already violated the ethical rules or committed professional misconduct, the OPC can use the reported information to initiate an investigation into your misconduct. In this regard, no attorney-client relationship between you and the OPC is created by the use of the Ethics Hotline.

The OPC staff attorneys are assigned to answer ethical inquiries, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The OPC requests that you leave a detailed message describing the problem on the Ethics Hotline and one of the attorneys will review the pertinent Rules of Professional Conduct and return your call to discuss the matter and direct you to the appropriate rules that govern your problem. The OPC has set a policy goal to return all Ethics Hotline phone calls within a twenty-four hour workday period. If the problem is of an emergency nature requiring an immediate response, the phone system will allow you to speak to an OPC attorney immediately.

The OPC keeps a written record of the request and the advice given, however, due to the one-sided nature of the information taken by the OPC on its Ethics Hotline and the need for quick and less than exhaustive research of the case law and opinions associated with the Rules, advice given by the OPC on the Hotline is not intended to be legally binding on the office. In this regard, you are told:

This is an informal opinion of our office, based upon a reading of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

You should read the rules and exercise own judgment.

Formal opinions can be requested from the Utah State Bar’s Ethics Advisory Opinion Committee.

The OPC considers all conversations on the Ethics Hotline strictly confidential however, neither the District Courts of this state nor the Utah Supreme Court has made a determination of this confidentiality. For fast, free ethics advice call (801) 531-9110.

The Utah State Bar’s Ethics Advisory Opinions can be found on the Bar’s website at http://www.utahbar.org/rules_ops_pols/index_of_opinions.html.